Antique clocks are a thing of real beauty and literally, a preserver of time immemorial.  Whether you admire the stature and grandeur of grandfather clocks or the elegance of bracket or carriage clocks, there is now an online purveyor of the very finest antique clocks from whom you can choose your favourite timepiece to proudly display in your home.

That company is Pendulum of Mayfair who were recently highly commended in the category of ‘Best Interiors Boutique’ at the prestigious Mayfair Awards 2012 which is held in association with the Mayfair Magazine, Small Luxury Hotels of the World and premium champagne brand Perrier-Jouet.

Pendulum of Mayfair offer an extensive selection of authenticated antique clocks of all genres and historical periods. Before offering these clocks for sale they will have been verified and expertly repaired and restored by their team of highly trained horologists and cabinet restorers, who are passionate about clocks as a thing of great beauty to be enjoyed and treasured by generations to come.

Pendulum of Mayfair  offer free UK delivery on all their grandfather clocks and will set the clock up for you in your home ensuring that it is working correctly. They also offer a one year’s guarantee on all purchases so you can buy from them with total peace of mind.

To buy a very special antique clock online visit the Pendulum of Mayfair website at http://www.pendulumofmayfair.co.uk/ .

Time passes slowly but it doesn’t have to pass without an interesting clock to look at. And there is nothing finer to view in a home than an antique grandfather clock, and if the sound of chimes does not strike a resonance in your heart, then the grandeur of this fine piece of craftsmanship surely cannot fail to.

If you are looking for a grandfather clock, there is no finer selection to be found than at the website of Pendulum of Mayfair Ltdhttp://www.pendulumofmayfair.co.uk/ who are the online retail division of the renowned firm of Coppelia Antiques Ltd.

Pendulum of Mayfair Ltd specialise in the sympathetic restoration of highly desirable horology pieces such as the grandfather clock, and their particular interests is within clocks from the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries.  All the grandfather clocks which they offer for sale are fully verified by their team on f in house experts as being authentic and their current selection can be viewed on their website at

http://www.pendulumofmayfair.co.uk/category/grandfather-clocks

Particularly notable for its outstanding grandeur and presence is the Antique Grandfather Clock by Chater & Sons of London C1755 which is a delightful piece in superb condition with stunning walnut veneers. Full details of this excellent example of a grandfather clock can be found on the Pendulum of Mayfair website. It is an outstanding piece and for its beauty alone is very reasonably priced at £34,500 – one not to be missed for avid collectors of grandfather clocks.

To view the wide selection of fine antique grandfather clocks simple visit the Pendulum of Mayfair website and for any specific enquiries please contact them via the website at http://www.pendulumofmayfair.co.uk/contact

Read our latest article: Antique clocks – which monarch ruled?

Pendulum of Mayfair offer some stunning examples of authentic antique bracket clocks that date right back to the 1700s from well-known clock makers such as Robert Molyneux & Sons, Hanson, Benjamin Stennett, Arnold & Dent and many others all of which can be seen in full detail on their website.

Indeed one of the finest examples of a truly beautiful antique bracket clock that Pendulum of Mayfair are currently offering for sale is a bracket Clock by Benjamin Stennett that dates back to circa 1790 and is described by the expert team at Pendulum of Mayfair as being: ‘An outstanding ebonized bracket clock with double fusee movement striking the hours on a single bell and ’8-day’ duration.’. For any avid collector of antique bracket clocks this must surely be a must have purchase!

To view the wide selection of fine antique bracket clocks simple visit the Pendulum of Mayfair website and for any specific enquires please contact them via the website at http://www.pendulumofmayfair.co.uk/contact

Pendulum of Mayfair is a specialist UK based online retailer of the very finest antique clocks and are part of Coppelia Antiques Ltd.  Whether you admire the imposing statuesque beauty of grandfather clocks or the elegance of long case or tall case clocks there is a style of clock to suit all tastes available to purchase through their website at :  http://www.pendulumofmayfair.co.uk/

Pendulum of Mayfair are experts in the sympathetic restoration of antique clocks to the very highest standards of craftsmanship and you can rest assured that not only are all the clocks that they sell verified antiques, but that where necessary, they have been lovingly repaired and restored by their highly experienced team of highly trained cabinet restorers and horologists.

Pendulum of Mayfair was founded by Roy Clements through his long held passion as a collector of antique clocks which started as a child of 13 working alongside his father helping him to renovate and restoring antique clocks and internal clock workings. Roy and his wife Valerie, also involved in  the antique clocks market, are both very actively involved in the family run business of Pendulum of Mayfair and when you buy your antique clock from them you buy with total peace of mind that your new purchase is genuine, verified and in full working order for you to enjoy for many years to come.

To view the wide selection of fine antique clocks simple visit the Pendulum of Mayfair website and for any specific enquiries please contact them via the website at http://www.pendulumofmayfair.co.uk/contact

It seems for the last few issues of my blog I have been on a sort of busman’s holiday around the world looking at antique clocks. It is amazing how this country has literally pulled the world together or connected it through our history. I examined the close ties with Australia and antique clocks in my last blog. I have also written about the clockmakers that headed to USA  for a new life. In both countries this meant the setting up production of a new industry in clockmaking. In one of my last blogs concerning clocks from around the world, I will look at antique clocks that were made for a particular market. Two countries spring to mind instantly. In the 18th century antique clocks manufactured in London were being sent to countries like Turkey and to another one of our close allies, Portugal. It is our connection with Portugal I will consider here as we have just restored a fantastic London mahogany grandfather clock pictured above that has spent its entire life in Lisbon, I believe, until we purchased it at the end of last year. The superb example is pictured above. You will see the clock is made by the great clockmakers Spencer and Perkins in London around C1770 and it has a strike/silent to the arch saying Repite and Surdo, clearly in Portuguese. This clock was exhibited in Lisbon in 1986 to commemorate the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385. It was then 600 years since this historic battle. Right so what exactly is our connection with Portugal. Well the Anglo-Portugese Treaty of 1373 signed between King Edward III of England and King Ferdinand and Queen Eleanor of Portugal is I believe the oldest treaty in the world. It was a treaty established between two great seafaring nations, a treaty of, “perpetual friendships, unions [and] alliances”. This little heard of treaty has been reinforced throughout history, including in 1386 in this Battle of Aljubarrota. Here the English sent 100 longbowmen, veterans from the Hundred Years wars to honour this alliance in 1373. There were about 6,500 men on the Portuguese and English side against a force from the Crown of Castile, Kingdom of France and Arogonese allies and Italian allies of over 31,000 men. The Portuguese with the help of the English managed to win against overwhelming odds. In 1386, the closeness of the relations between Portugal and England resulted in a permanent military alliance, with the Treaty of Windsor, the eldest still active in existence. This treaty came into play again in 1643,1654,1660,1661,1703,1815,1899. It was also recognized in the Treaties of Arbitration in 1904 and 1914. This Treaty was also used during the Second World War and was also cited during the 1982 Falklands War.

During the rise of the clockmaking in the UK in the 18th century under King George II and III we were at war with or on opposite sides with France many times. Supply of wine after French ports were blockaded became a problem. Our alliances with Portugal made British merchants look further afield. Port was invented as in order to stabilize the wines during their long journey at sea, merchants added a bucket or two or brandy to the barrels before sending them off.  Britain and Portugal signed the Methuen Treaty providing for, among other things, bolts of cloth from England for pipes of wine from Portugal. This paved the way for the enormous expansion of port trade in the 18th and 19th-centuries. King George III was rather partial it was believed to this drink, and he helped his allies from Portugal during many occasions. It was believed fine antiques and clocks and other items were sent after various disastrous earth quakes in Portugal. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake was one of the most deadly earthquakes in history.

The pictures above show one such clock that was manufactured in London but sent out to Lisbon, Portugal in the 18th century. It has spent, I believe,  all but the last few months overseas. It has a very unusual packing block behind the movement that looks original to the case. This appears to be the way the movement was bolted down for shipment in the 18th century. A really rare feature which you can see below. There is also an 18th century brass plate on the back of the movement that attaches to this block.

It is a fantastic antique clock and it can be viewed on our website, please contact me for any further information.

Daniel R Clements http://www.pendulumofmayfair.co.uk

Antique clocks as we have looked at in my many blogs centered around London in the 17th and 18th centuries. The UK exported many of these clocks to different parts of the world. Clock production only really set up in places like America, as a result of people fleeing persecution on religious grounds, from places in the UK. It was slightly different how clock production was setup in places like Australia. Hundreds of convict ships sailed during the 18th and 19th centuries to Australia. As mentioned in my previous blog Henry Lane the clockmaker from London and Bristol was a prisoner on board the Perseus.   Clearly other convicts arrived in Australia who were clockmakers in the UK. James Oatley was born in Warwickshire in 1770 but was found guilty of stealing bed linen. He was a horologist who arrived in Sydney in 1815. His talents also were noted and he became a highly regarded clock and watch maker. He was pardoned in 1821 and he was appointed Keeper of the Town Hall Clock by Governor Macquarie.

It is Henry Lane who I will be looking at here though and it is found a year after his arrival he had set up his business in Sydney in 1803. Clearly with no competetion to speak of, he was not short of work and he is mentioned soon after his arrival advertising for an apprentice and a clock case manufacturer. In April 1804 he advertises for sale a ships chronometer and through these adverts you can tell he also manufactured watches at the time. Sydney was founded in 1788 . Again convict ships set sail from Portsmouth. The Town Hall clock that Henry Lane was asked to repair after it collapsed in 1806 was probably brought on one of these ships from the UK. The first tower clock in the UK to compare was at Salisbury Cathedral and it was made in 1386, over 400 years earlier !

In 1808 Henry Lane has been given a conditional pardon and by 1811 Henry was appointed Government Clock Keeper. He held this position until his death on the 15th April 1815. The earliest editions of the Sydney Gazette gives lots more information about Henry Lanes grandfather clocks and watches advertised for sale. It is an interesting history that I suggest readers delve deeper. Australia and the UK have a unique history from 1788. It is probably one of the closest international relationships in existence. It has a shared history, culture, institutions and language. The only change is that people go to live in Australia freely from the UK today ! Even the current Australian Prime Minister was born in the UK in Wales. There has always been a fierce rivalry especially in sport between our two nations but we have always had a special bond. Many of the people who live in Australia today have some connection with the UK, either in past or present history.

Antique Clock by Henry Lane Bristol C1785

HENRY LANE 18th CENTURY CLOCKMAKER BRISTOL – LONDON  & SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

I will be looking at the start of clockmaking in Australia and the interesting story of the 18th century antique clock specialist Henry Lane. I need to pay special thanks to John Houstone, Kevin Fahy and Bill Bradshaw, the Australian Antique Collector and the Power House Museum in Australia for their help.

Introduction

I have been associated with antique clocks all my life and I learnt about the story of Henry Lane from one of our clients. Many years ago we had for sale a stunning Bristol antique clock by this maker at our retail antique clock shop in London, Pendulum of Mayfair Ltd. The power of the internet made it possible for a client in Australia to notice this clock and travel all the way from Australia to London, UK to view and eventually purchase this magnificent clock. The clock itself is pictured below.

I hope you will agree it is a fantastic and rare 3 train musical mahogany Longcase clock of ’8-day’ duration. Lovely typical high quality Bristol cabinet with fretwork beneath swan neck pediments to hood, reeded chamfered sides with brass stringing to trunk and base.  The dial with high quality matted centre, chapter ring/spandrels, recessed polished and engraved seconds and calendar, strike/silent to arch. Movement of high quality playing 6 different possible tunes every hour.

As many of my readers are aware there are literally thousands of antique clockmakers, some you know and some you don’t. Henry Lane was one I did not know anything about, clearly he was not a prolific clockmaker. You could tell though from the quality of this clock, he was a fantastic maker.  The workmanship was of the highest order, and it included some very unusual features. It is rare for one to get a genuine 18th century musical example, anyone capable of such work, had to be of the highest order. There is nothing really listed in the main clock reference books about him, other than he worked in Bristol and London.  Our client opened my eyes to this interesting story though and I give him special thanks.

Saturday, 4th Jan 1800 was the day when Henry Lane’s  life changed for ever. He arrived with his companion Mrs Charlotte Holland in Chipping Sodbury on the morning coach from Bristol. Henry paid the fare with a one pound Bank of England bill and he paid another bill with a five pound bill, on both occasions he received change. His companion Charlotte went on a shopping trip, she made payments with similar five pound bills in three different shops, likewise receiving change in each shop. It was in the last shop that the husband of the last shopkeeper noticed something strange about the bill and correctly deduced it to be a forgery. She seemed  ‘all in a tremor’ , Charlotte was put in custody of a policeman who escorted her to the Swan Inn. Henry walked past this place and was recognized as Charlotte’s companion on the coach. He decided to run but he was caught. Henry tried to dispose of other bills by eating them. One pursuer forced Henry to open his mouth, he found two more forged bills inside. Henry was taken to the inn where Charlotte was kept.

Henry stood trial on the 5th April 1800 and Charlotte on the 30th July 1800. Interest in the trial was large in Bristol at the time and a full transcript of the trial is on public records and will be given as a reference at the end of this piece. At his trial Henry gave a statement that he had received these notes as a settlement of a debt and he did not know they were forged. His evidence was weakened by the fact he booked the coach in a false name and he had tried to eat the notes when caught, and the fact he had tried to flee. The judge adjourned and returned by pronouncing a sentence of death.  The Bristol Journal of 19th April 1800 announced ‘the execution of Henry Lane will take place at St Michael’s Hill on Friday next’. The issue of the 26th April reported the sentence had been commuted to transportation for life by Royal clemency. I am not sure what connection Henry Lane had to the Royal family but a crown is engraved to the centre of the arch to this dial !

At Charlotte’s trial in Gloucester on the 30th July 1800 she was also sentenced for transportation for life. Henry left Spithead on the Perseus with 112 other male prisoners on the 12th February 1802 and he arrived in Sydney cove on the 4th August. Charlotte left on the Glatton on the 23rd September, 1802 and arrived on the 11th March, 1803.

Henry who at his trial was 50 years of age and had a wife and family. Not much was known about the relationship with Charlotte but it is clear by 1806 Charlotte was living with Henry in Sydney. Charlotte is described to the Governor in 1810 as a ‘housekeeper’ and in Rev Samuel Marsden’s Female Muster of 1806, she is described as a ‘concubine’. That is  a woman in an ongoing, marriage-like relationship with a man to whom she cannot be married for a specific reason ! Eventually on the 27th October 1813, they married at St John’s Parramatta. The assumption is made Henry’s wife in Bristol, England had died by that time.

I will look at Henry work and life in Australia in my next blog, this is a compelling story I hope you agree. More can be found about the trial by reading the following.

1.The Only Genuine Trial of Henry Lane taken by a Short Hand Writer – Rosser and Co., Bristol 1800

Very rarely do we get the pleasure of buying back our special antique clocks. I believe you can count on one hand the clocks we have had back in over 40 years, for either financial or relationship reasons. I would like to write my first post for this year on a clock we sold about 20 years ago and have recently had the pleasure in buying back. It has just been completely overhauled again and is now back in showroom condition.

This antique clock is a beautiful mahogany brass dial moonphase example from the last quarter of the 18th century. ‘Wheat-ear’ engraving to the dial edge, lovely matted and engraved clock dial centre, subsidiary seconds and calendar features, moonphase to the arch. Superb flame mahogany veneers. The cabinet even has an old pulley attached to the hood where a cord was run from the repeat lever of the movement to probably the bedside of the owner, letting him know the last hour struck.

We have not had to many examples from this clockmaker but he was clearly a special clockmaker of the 18th century to produce such outstanding workmanship. It is amazing though just how many clockmakers could not spell(yes even worse than me!), the really quirky feature on this clock is how the maker has spelt Liverpool. He has spelt it probably how he said it, ‘Leverpoole’. This really made me smile.

I remember John Harrison the famous clockmaker who solved the Longitude problem, taught himself to read I believe at home with a physics book, correcting some of the equations as he went. Clockmaking in the 17th and 18th and even 19th century’s was a top profession that you only really entered through family connections. Long apprentaships and long hours followed before you qualified.

I have seen so many funny spellings on antique clocks but this spelling of Liverpool really tops the bill for 2012. I would welcome you sending me any other funny antique clock name spellings with their pictures to pendulumclocks@aol.com and I will post them on this blog for you.

In my various blogs to date we have studied clockmaking in the UK in great depth, this is with due reason, as London was the centre of the clockmaking during the 17th/18th and 19th centuries. In my later blogs I have looked at clockmaking in France, Germany and clock decoration carried out by the Chinese, on lacquer clocks. I wish to end this year with a quick look at antique clocks and timekeeping in Japan. I will focus on the humble Japanese Pillar Clock.

Japanese clocks were somewhat different to European antique clocks in the 17th,18th and 19th centuries, and the earliest clocks to come to Japan from missionaries and merchants had to be adapted to Japanese time. The Japanese clockmakers had many challenges adapting these clocks. They also had the problem as a nation they were very isolationist after the mid 17th century and so their technology in this regard somewhat lagged behind the western clocks of the period.

So what is Japanese time I hear you ask, surely all time is measured the same, well no not for the Japanese culture in these early periods. In fact it was not until 1873 that the Japanese government adopted the 24 hour system used in the West and the Gregorian calendar.

Japanese time required 6 hours in the daytime from sunrise to sunset and 6 hours at night, from sunset to sunrise. As a result of the seasons  these time periods were unequal and the divisions on Japanese clocks had to be adjustable. This was called unequal temporal hours. Clearly daylight hours were longer in the summer and shorter in the winter, with the opposite at night. Clearly this produced problems and the European system of equal hours that did not vary with seasons was far simpler.

The Japanese pillar clock pictured here is a rare example that is a striking example, most are timepiece, it is weight driven. It has a verge escapement, beautifully turned pillars and a foliot escapement. As the clock winds out the indicator tells the time by the scales on the door. A typical clock had six numbered hours from 9 to 4 which counted backwards from noon to midnight, the dials did not have the numbers 1 to 3 for religious reasons. Dawn and dusk were marked as the sixth hour in japanese timekeeping. A list of the strange dials for the hours is given on Wikipedia, please take a look.

The name pillar clocks comes from the fact they used to hang from the pillars or posts of the Japanese houses. These clocks were generally made from a wood called Shitan. Clearly because of the fragile nature of the construction only a few have survived and they are highly sought after. The movements go for just 1 day on a wind.

I hope you all have a happy and most important of all healthy Christmas and  New Year. I will restart my antique clock blog in the New Year. I hope you have enjoyed and hopefully learned something from them. Again have a lovely holiday and see you soon.

In my many antique clock blogs to date,  I have talked about the rise of clockmaking in England and London being the centre of clock manufacture in the 17th and 18th centuries. The tide starts to turn though through the 19th century and you will then see more makers from France and Germany exporting their products to the UK. The French clockmakers became very adapt at clockmaking during the start of the 19th century. I will look at the introduction of the French carriage clocks here and its impact on the market.

It was Abraham Louis Breguet (1747-1823) that was in my opinion the finest of all the continental horologists. Breguet is classified as the inventor of the French carriage clock he gave one of these clocks to Emperor Napoleon in 1812. A.L.Breguet although born in Switzerland spent almost his entire productive life in Paris. His career began with a series of new inventions in the field of watches. He invented the self winding perpetual watch for example. During the French Revolution Breguet took refuge back in Switzerland but he soon returned to Paris with further new groundbreaking horological ideas. He came up with the Breguet spring balance which was fundamental to the invention of the carriage clock. After his death in 1823 many would mention this great inventor and horologist as one of the greatest pioneers of  scientific achievements in the field of time-keeping in France.

Carriage clocks are usually made of brass or gilt brass have numerous glass windows to see the mechanism. These clocks have a platform escapement visible through the top glass window. These clocks use a balance and balance spring to control the timekeeping. This balance effectively made the clock very transportable, the way other clocks were not at the time. Clocks were thus made smaller by not having to have a pendulum. These clocks were spring driven and could have a repeat function to show the last hour/half hour. These clocks were exported in vast numbers from C1860 to C1920 and I suppose production was at his height around C1860/80 in France. Many of these carriage clocks were made in France and retailed in the UK. The makers normally had some mark or feature engraved on the back of the movement which you can normally decipher in a good French carriage clock makers book.

These French carriage clocks are generally of ’8-day’ duration. They are very good Christmas presents as prices go from £300 or £400 upwards for timepiece examples. Repeating carriage clocks tend to go from around £1,500 upwards. Some porcelain panel carriage clocks and champleve enamel carriage clocks were also made. These are rarer and tend to be alot more money. It is important when purchasing these French carriage clocks to check the clock has an original escapement as many have been changed over the years.